Anisotropy-Induced Transparency in Optically Dense Media

The effect of anisotropy-induced transparency, which is analogous to electromagnetically induced transparency in the three-level medium located in a resonance field, is predicted and studied theoretically. This effect is connected with destructive interference between oscillations in different degrees of freedom of an anisotropic medium, which are connected with each other, as radiation propagates at an angle to one of the optical axes in a triaxial or uniaxial crystal. In this case, a hybrid-type polariton is formed in the “transparency window,” which combines the quasi-longitudinal polarization with the “vacuum” refractive index. Such a wave is excited easily by radiation incident from the vacuum and should have enhanced impedance of coupling with active or nonlinear elements, which can be useful for the creation of small-size optical systems. Due to the interest in quantum-optical effects displayed recently, the regime of anisotropy-induced transparency is considered within the framework of the quantum theory of radiation in an optically dense medium.